#Quality Auto Repairs

[stevesmith1050609]

Crown Auto Repair & Collision is a premier collision repair shop dedicated to restoring your vehicle's beauty and functionality. Specializing in auto body repairs, precise paint matching, and dent removal, their skilled team ensures impeccable results. Trust this professional collision repair shop to deliver outstanding service and customer satisfaction, helping your car look and perform like new.

[autolisbon]

Which Tire Shop in Lisbon is Right for Your Car?

When it comes to vehicle maintenance, few things are as important as choosing the right tire shop. Tires are critical for your safety on the road, and finding a reliable Tire Service Lisbon ensures that you are getting the best value, quality, and performance for your car. Whether you need a simple tire rotation or a full tire replacement, Lisbon offers a variety of tire shops that cater to different needs and preferences.

In this blog, we’ll guide you through how to choose the right tire shop in Lisbon, the importance of tire services, and other essential tips for your first visit to an auto repair shop, including what to expect when you bring your vehicle in for service.

1. Why Tire Services Matter

Your tires are the only point of contact between your vehicle and the road, making their maintenance crucial for overall safety and vehicle performance. Over time, tires can wear down or become damaged, leading to reduced traction, poor fuel efficiency, and even accidents. This is why regular tire service is essential to maintaining the health and longevity of your vehicle.

When looking for a Tire Service in Lisbon, you’ll want to find a shop that offers a variety of tire services, including:

Tire Inspection: Regular tire inspections help detect issues early, such as uneven wear, cracks, or punctures that could cause problems later.

Tire Rotation: This helps to ensure even tire wear, prolonging the lifespan of your tires.

Tire Balancing: Balancing your tires helps reduce vibrations and ensures a smoother driving experience.

Tire Replacement: When your tires are worn out or damaged beyond repair, a tire shop should provide reliable replacement services.

2. What to Look for in a Tire Shop

Choosing the right tire shop is not just about proximity; you want a shop that provides high-quality service and products. Here are some important factors to consider:

Experience and Expertise

A reliable tire shop should have experienced technicians who can offer personalized recommendations based on your car’s needs. They should be able to assess your vehicle's tire wear, recommend the best tire type for your driving habits and local weather conditions, and perform necessary services accurately.

Variety of Tire Brands

Not all tires are created equal. Different brands offer varying features, such as better traction, improved fuel efficiency, or longer durability. A reputable tire shop should offer a selection of well-known tire brands so you can choose the best fit for your car’s make and model.

Competitive Pricing

While you don’t want to compromise on quality, it’s also important to find a tire shop that offers competitive pricing. Some shops in Lisbon might offer discounts, tire bundles, or seasonal sales that can help you save money on your next tire purchase.

Warranty and Service Guarantees

One crucial consideration when choosing a tire shop is the warranty offered on tires and tire services. Warranties give you peace of mind, knowing that you’re covered in case something goes wrong with your tires after installation. Some tire shops offer warranties on tires that include free replacements or repairs for certain issues.

Customer Reviews

Always check customer reviews before making a decision. Online platforms like Google Reviews or Yelp can give you valuable insight into a shop’s customer service and the quality of their work. Look for a tire shop with consistently positive feedback, especially regarding timeliness and professionalism.

3. What is the Warranty on a Rebuilt Transmission?

While this may seem unrelated to tires, it’s worth noting that many auto repair shops that offer tire services also specialize in other aspects of vehicle maintenance, such as transmission repairs. What is the Warranty on a Rebuilt Transmission? It varies by shop and manufacturer, but generally, you can expect warranties from 12 months to 3 years, depending on the service provider.

If you’re ever in need of auto transmission service in addition to tire maintenance, be sure to ask about the warranty coverage for rebuilt transmissions. A good warranty ensures that if there are any issues with the rebuilt transmission, you won’t have to pay for repairs out of pocket. The same goes for tires; the longer the warranty, the better your investment will be.

At Lisbon Auto Repair Center, we offer warranties on both our tire services and auto repairs, ensuring that our customers feel confident in the quality of work we provide.

4. What to Expect During Your First Visit to an Auto Repair Shop

For those who are new to vehicle maintenance or new to a particular shop, understanding what to expect during your first visit to a Tire Service in Lisbon can help make the process smoother. Here’s a general idea of what you can expect:

Initial Inspection

When you arrive at the tire shop, a technician will usually begin with an inspection of your current tires. They will assess the tread depth, check for any visible signs of damage (such as punctures or cracks), and evaluate the overall condition of the tires.

Recommendations and Estimates

After the inspection, the technician will provide you with their recommendations based on the condition of your tires. If the tires need to be replaced, they will offer options for tire brands and types, and provide an estimate for the service.

Service Duration

Depending on the type of service, you can expect to spend anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours at the tire shop. If you're getting new tires installed, the process might take longer, as the technician will need to balance and align your new tires for optimal performance.

Payment and Warranty Information

Once the service is completed, you will receive a bill detailing the work performed. Make sure to ask about the warranty on your new tires, tire services, or any other auto repair services, such as transmission or brake work. It’s essential to keep the receipt and warranty documentation in case you need to refer to it later.

5. Additional Services Offered at Tire Shops

In addition to basic tire services, many tire shops offer other vehicle maintenance services that can complement your tire care, such as:

Brake Inspections and Repairs: Tires and brakes go hand-in-hand. A good tire shop will also be able to assess your brake system and make recommendations for any needed repairs.

Suspension and Alignment Services: If your tires are wearing unevenly, it could be due to suspension issues. Some tire shops also specialize in suspension repairs and wheel alignment services to ensure that your tires wear evenly and last longer.

Battery Services: If your car's battery is near the end of its life, many tire shops can replace it for you.

6. Final Thoughts on Choosing a Tire Shop in Lisbon

When it comes to maintaining your vehicle, finding the right Tire Service in Lisbon is essential for your car's performance and safety. Take the time to research your options, ask the right questions, and ensure that the shop you choose offers the services, warranties, and pricing that best suit your needs.

Whether you're looking for new tires, tire rotation, or What to Expect During Your First Visit to an Auto Repair Shop, it’s important to choose a shop you can trust. Lisbon Auto Repair Center is one such shop in Lisbon, offering top-notch tire services, exceptional customer care, and expertise in vehicle repairs, including What is the Warranty on a Rebuilt Transmission?. We’re here to help you keep your vehicle running smoothly, safely, and efficiently.

[risk-bot]

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[ulmersautoanderson]

Ulmer's Auto Care

For more than 80 years, Ulmer’s Auto Care Center has been providing the best auto repair in Milford and Anderson, OH. With a dedication to affordable automotive services and complete customer satisfaction, we’ve become known as the areas auto repair shop of choice! Whether you need a simple tire repair, a quick oil change, a major tune-up, or an extensive computer diagnostic test, our highly trained auto service team is ready to serve you. We understand that auto repair is usually unexpected and unplanned — that’s why our priority is to get your vehicle back to you in superior shape as quickly and conveniently as possible!

Business Hours: Mon — Fri: 7AM — 5:30PM

Contact Info: Ulmer’s Auto Care Address: 6389 Salem Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45230 Phone: 513–624–2641 Website: https://www.ulmersautocare.com/location/anderson/

Follow On: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UlmersAutoCare Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ulmersautocare/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ulmersautocare

Google Maps Places CID URL: https://www.google.com/maps?cid=2963499218491518412 Write A Review URL: https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=ChIJ2bmoV-6uQYgRzK1VgtZ2ICk Google Review URL: https://maps.app.goo.gl/TG7DNyViVx2Z5ji66

[ulmersautoflorence]

The auto repair experts at Ulmer's Auto Care, serving the greater Cincinnati area, are your trusted destination for unparalleled automotive maintenance and services. We are thrilled to announce that Pro Transmission is now part of the Ulmer's Auto Care Family of companies. Together, we continue to uphold the legacy of exceptional automotive care. With a rich history of experience and a dedicated team of skilled technicians, we are unwavering in our commitment to ensuring your vehicle operates at its best. Our cutting-edge facility boasts the latest diagnostic tools and equipment, ensuring precise identification and resolution of any auto repair or transmission challenges.

Business Hours:

Mon - Fri: 7AM - 5:30PM

Contact Info:

Ulmer's Auto Care

Address: 7209 Burlington Pike, Florence, KY 41042 USA

Phone: +1 859-331-9200

Website: https://www.ulmersautocare.com/location/florence/

Follow On:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UlmersAutoCare

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ulmersautocare/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ulmersautocare

Google Maps Places CID URL: 

Google Review URL:

Write A Review URL: 

[bodyshoplv]

At LMS  Auto Body & Paint, our main goal is customer satisfaction  and complete perfection. We perform quick/fast, affordable, and high quality repairs on your ride and offer a great customer experience. We take pride in our auto body repair in Las Vegas work and we back it up with our awesome warranty on every paint and body work we do. Our certified Auto Body & Paint technicians work and team up to get your  vehicle back on the road faster than any other shop in Las Vegas NV and  surrounding areas.

Auto Body Shop

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Auto Collision Shop

Auto Collision Repair

Auto Collision Repair Shop

Auto Body Repair

https://www.bodyshoplasvegas.com/lms

https://reviewthis.biz/db3e5a8b

https://g.page/LMSAutobody?gm

[rvautoglassexperts-phoenix-az]

The Ultimate Checklist for Choosing an RV Auto Glass Repair Professional

When it comes to replacing your RV's windshield, it's crucial to choose a reputable auto glass company to handle the job. While it might be tempting to base your decision solely on price, there are several important factors to consider to ensure you get the best quality service and materials. Here's a list of tips to help you select the right auto glass repair company for your RV.

High-Quality Materials

One of the first considerations when choosing rv auto glass repair Phoenix professional is the quality of the materials they use. Your RV's windshield is not just a piece of glass; it's a critical component that protects you from the elements and any debris that might be kicked up on the road. Given the size and complexity of RV windshields, it's imperative that the company you choose uses glass specifically designed and manufactured for your RV's make and model.

Advanced Installation Processes

Replacing an RV windshield requires specialized skills and tools due to the size and shape of the glass. Ensure the company you choose has the necessary equipment and expertise to install and seal your new windshield efficiently and correctly. Ask about their installation techniques and make sure they follow industry standards to prevent issues like leaks or improper sealing.

Effective Communication

A reliable RV windshield replacement company should be responsive and attentive to your needs. Look for companies that offer convenient ways to request quotes and schedule appointments, such as online forms. Additionally, ensure they have customer service hours that fit your schedule. It's also a good idea to reach out to several companies to compare how they treat you during the initial inquiry. Good customer service is often an indicator of how well they'll handle your RV's windshield replacement.

By considering these factors, you can make an informed decision and ensure that your RV's windshield replacement is handled with the care and expertise it deserves.

[kavin74001]

Auto Repair and Auto Parts - US1 Auto Parts| Best Quality Used Parts and Auto Repair Shop in Miami, FL (on Wattpad) https://www.wattpad.com/1460968955-auto-repair-and-auto-parts-us1-auto-parts-best?utm_source=web&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_reading&wp_uname=kavinwade Providing expert auto repair services, we specialize in diagnosing and fixing a wide range of vehicle issues. From routine maintenance like oil changes and brake repairs to complex engine diagnostics and electrical system troubleshooting, our certified technicians ensure your vehicle runs smoothly and safely. Trust us for reliable service and quality craftsmanship. Discover the finest quality used auto parts at unbeatable prices. Our extensive inventory is meticulously inspected to ensure top performance and reliability. From engines to transmissions, we provide trusted components for all makes and models. Experience exceptional value and service with parts you can depend on, extending the life of your vehicle.

[clearqualityautoglassnv]

Clear Quality Auto Glass

They do auto glass repair and replacement (plus calibration) both at this physical shop and as a remote service (come to your home or place of work). They also do window tinting. Google just recently added "Auto window tinting service" as a category, but a lot of customers still assume auto and search "window tinting service" not thinking that flat glass on buildings also can get tinted. So to show up in search, we're still leaving "Window tinting service" as a category even though this business does not do flat glass.

Windshield Repair

[pritchardautobody]

Best Auto Repair Shop & Transmission Service Experts in Winnipeg | Seven Oaks Transmissions

[ful-flo]

Best Auto Repair Shop & Transmission Service Experts in Winnipeg | Seven Oaks Transmissions

[sujathaks]

Best Auto Repair Shop & Transmission Service Experts in Winnipeg | Seven Oaks Transmissions

[sevenoakstransmissions]

Your Trusted Choice Among Auto Body Shops in Winnipeg

Auto Body Shop Winnipeg, Auto Body Painting &  Repair Services

[oneworlddeals]

Don't let a messy car slow you down. Discover the top-rated car organizers at Car-Acces and experience the convenience of having everything in its place. From trunk organizers to seatback storage, our best sellers are here to streamline your life on the go. Shop now and enjoy a clutter-free ride!

[autorepairdepew]

The Ultimate Guide to Finding the Perfect Auto Repair Shop

 Are you in search of a trustworthy automotive repair facility that offers cost-effective services? The process of selecting the appropriate auto repair shop can be overwhelming, but fret not, as we are here to provide you with assistance. In this comprehensive guide, we will guide you through the five crucial steps to identifying the perfect auto repair shop.

How to Get Stellar Recommendations for Auto Repair Shops-

When seeking a reputable auto repair establishment, it is advisable to rely on word-of-mouth endorsements from acquaintances and relatives. Inquire among your social circle to ascertain whether anyone has had a satisfactory encounter with an auto repair shop in your vicinity. In the absence of personal referrals, there is no need for concern. Online evaluations and appraisals can also serve as a valuable source of information. Platforms such as Yelp, Google, and Facebook provide feedback from genuine customers, which can furnish you with a reliable indication of the caliber of service you may anticipate.

Analyze a Company's Customer Feedback and Ratings-

After identifying several prospectives of automobile repair establishments, it is imperative to scrutinize their customer feedback and evaluations. Seek out shops that have garnered high ratings and favorable reviews. Take heed of any recurring themes or grievances in the reviews; if multiple individuals are expressing dissatisfaction with a particular matter, it is likely a cause for concern. Additionally, it is worthwhile to peruse the shop's social media platforms to assess their online interactions with customers. Are they prompt in addressing inquiries and issues? Do they appear genuinely invested in assisting their clientele? A company's social media presence can furnish valuable insight into their customer service.

Explore the Company's Background and Expertise-

Before to entrusting your vehicle to an automobile repair establishment, it is imperative to conduct a thorough investigation into their background and level of expertise. It is essential to ascertain the duration of their operation and whether they specialize in specific types of repairs or vehicles. This information can typically be obtained from the company's website or by directly contacting them. It is advisable to exercise caution when dealing with establishments that are hesitant to disclose details regarding their experience and proficiency.

Verify the Company's Accreditation and Certifications-

When selecting an automobile repair establishment, it is imperative to authenticate their accreditation and certifications. It is advisable to seek out establishments that are affiliated with industry associations such as the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). ASE certification is a widely recognized benchmark of excellence for automotive technicians, signifying that the technicians at the establishment possess extensive knowledge and expertise.

Evaluating and Comparing the Company's Pricing- Ultimately, it is imperative to assess and contrast the pricing structures of various automobile repair establishments. It is crucial to bear in mind that the most economical alternative may not necessarily be the optimal selection, as one should not compromise quality for cost. It is advisable to seek out shops that provide lucid and unambiguous pricing policies, and are amenable to furnishing comprehensive estimates prior to commencing any repairs. In the event of any uncertainty regarding a shop's pricing, it is recommended to seek clarification by posing relevant queries.

Now that you know the key steps to finding the perfect auto repair shop, we'd like to introduce you to Wieland Automotive – a Depew, New York-based company that provides all kinds of automotive repair services. Wieland Automotive has been in business for over 35 years, and their technicians are ASE-certified. They specialize in a wide range of services, including brakes, tires, suspension, exhaust, and more. But don't just take our word for it – check out their Yelp and Google reviews to see what customers are saying. People rave about their excellent customer service, quality workmanship, and fair pricing. If you're in the Depew area and in need of automotive repairs, give Wieland Automotive a call. They'll take good care of you and your vehicle.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Autoenshittification

Forget F1: the only car race that matters now is the race to turn your car into a digital extraction machine, a high-speed inkjet printer on wheels, stealing your private data as it picks your pocket. Your car’s digital infrastructure is a costly, dangerous nightmare — but for automakers in pursuit of postcapitalist utopia, it’s a dream they can’t give up on.

Your car is stuffed full of microchips, a fact the world came to appreciate after the pandemic struck and auto production ground to a halt due to chip shortages. Of course, that wasn’t the whole story: when the pandemic started, the automakers panicked and canceled their chip orders, only to immediately regret that decision and place new orders.

But it was too late: semiconductor production had taken a serious body-blow, and when Big Car placed its new chip orders, it went to the back of a long, slow-moving line. It was a catastrophic bungle: microchips are so integral to car production that a car is basically a computer network on wheels that you stick your fragile human body into and pray.

The car manufacturers got so desperate for chips that they started buying up washing machines for the microchips in them, extracting the chips and discarding the washing machines like some absurdo-dystopian cyberpunk walnut-shelling machine:

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/desperate-times-companies-buy-washing-machines-just-to-rip-out-the-chips-187033.html

These digital systems are a huge problem for the car companies. They are the underlying cause of a precipitous decline in car quality. From touch-based digital door-locks to networked sensors and cameras, every digital system in your car is a source of endless repair nightmares, costly recalls and cybersecurity vulnerabilities:

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/quality-new-vehicles-us-declining-more-tech-use-study-shows-2023-06-22/

What’s more, drivers hate all the digital bullshit, from the janky touchscreens to the shitty, wildly insecure apps. Digital systems are drivers’ most significant point of dissatisfaction with the automakers’ products:

https://www.theverge.com/23801545/car-infotainment-customer-satisifaction-survey-jd-power

Even the automakers sorta-kinda admit that this is a problem. Back in 2020 when Massachusetts was having a Right-to-Repair ballot initiative, Big Car ran these unfuckingbelievable scare ads that basically said, “Your car spies on you so comprehensively that giving anyone else access to its systems will let murderers stalk you to your home and kill you:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/03/rip-david-graeber/#rolling-surveillance-platforms

But even amid all the complaining about cars getting stuck in the Internet of Shit, there’s still not much discussion of why the car-makers are making their products less attractive, less reliable, less safe, and less resilient by stuffing them full of microchips. Are car execs just the latest generation of rubes who’ve been suckered by Silicon Valley bullshit and convinced that apps are a magic path to profitability?

Nope. Car execs are sophisticated businesspeople, and they’re surfing capitalism’s latest — and last — hot trend: dismantling capitalism itself.

Now, leftists have been predicting the death of capitalism since The Communist Manifesto, but even Marx and Engels warned us not to get too frisky: capitalism, they wrote, is endlessly creative, constantly reinventing itself, re-emerging from each crisis in a new form that is perfectly adapted to the post-crisis reality:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/books/review/a-spectre-haunting-china-mieville.html

But capitalism has finally run out of gas. In his forthcoming book, Techno Feudalism: What Killed Capitalism, Yanis Varoufakis proposes that capitalism has died — but it wasn’t replaced by socialism. Rather, capitalism has given way to feudalism:

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451795/technofeudalism-by-varoufakis-yanis/9781847927279

Under capitalism, capital is the prime mover. The people who own and mobilize capital — the capitalists — organize the economy and take the lion’s share of its returns. But it wasn’t always this way: for hundreds of years, European civilization was dominated by rents, not markets.

A “rent” is income that you get from owning something that other people need to produce value. Think of renting out a house you own: not only do you get paid when someone pays you to live there, you also get the benefit of rising property values, which are the result of the work that all the other homeowners, business owners, and residents do to make the neighborhood more valuable.

The first capitalists hated rent. They wanted to replace the “passive income” that landowners got from taxing their serfs’ harvest with active income from enclosing those lands and grazing sheep in order to get wool to feed to the new textile mills. They wanted active income — and lots of it.

Capitalist philosophers railed against rent. The “free market” of Adam Smith wasn’t a market that was free from regulation — it was a market free from rents. The reason Smith railed against monopolists is because he (correctly) understood that once a monopoly emerged, it would become a chokepoint through which a rentier could cream off the profits he considered the capitalist’s due:

https://locusmag.com/2021/03/cory-doctorow-free-markets/

Today, we live in a rentier’s paradise. People don’t aspire to create value — they aspire to capture it. In Survival of the Richest, Doug Rushkoff calls this “going meta”: don’t provide a service, just figure out a way to interpose yourself between the provider and the customer:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/13/collapse-porn/#collapse-porn

Don’t drive a cab, create Uber and extract value from every driver and rider. Better still: don’t found Uber, invest in Uber options and extract value from the people who invest in Uber. Even better, invest in derivatives of Uber options and extract value from people extracting value from people investing in Uber, who extract value from drivers and riders. Go meta.

This is your brain on the four-hour-work-week, passive income mind-virus. In Techno Feudalism, Varoufakis deftly describes how the new “Cloud Capital” has created a new generation of rentiers, and how they have become the richest, most powerful people in human history.

Shopping at Amazon is like visiting a bustling city center full of stores — but each of those stores’ owners has to pay the majority of every sale to a feudal landlord, Emperor Jeff Bezos, who also decides which goods they can sell and where they must appear on the shelves. Amazon is full of capitalists, but it is not a capitalist enterprise. It’s a feudal one:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

This is the reason that automakers are willing to enshittify their products so comprehensively: they were one of the first industries to decouple rents from profits. Recall that the reason that Big Car needed billions in bailouts in 2008 is that they’d reinvented themselves as loan-sharks who incidentally made cars, lending money to car-buyers and then “securitizing” the loans so they could be traded in the capital markets.

Even though this strategy brought the car companies to the brink of ruin, it paid off in the long run. The car makers got billions in public money, paid their execs massive bonuses, gave billions to shareholders in buybacks and dividends, smashed their unions, fucked their pensioned workers, and shipped jobs anywhere they could pollute and murder their workforce with impunity.

Car companies are on the forefront of postcapitalism, and they understand that digital is the key to rent-extraction. Remember when BMW announced that it was going to rent you the seatwarmer in your own fucking car?

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/02/big-river/#beemers

Not to be outdone, Mercedes announced that they were going to rent you your car’s accelerator pedal, charging an extra $1200/year to unlock a fully functional acceleration curve:

https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/23/23474969/mercedes-car-subscription-faster-acceleration-feature-price

This is the urinary tract infection business model: without digitization, all your car’s value flowed in a healthy stream. But once the car-makers add semiconductors, each one of those features comes out in a painful, burning dribble, with every button on that fakakta touchscreen wired directly into your credit-card.

But it’s just for starters. Computers are malleable. The only computer we know how to make is the Turing Complete Von Neumann Machine, which can run every program we know how to write. Once they add networked computers to your car, the Car Lords can endlessly twiddle the knobs on the back end, finding new ways to extract value from you:

https://doctorow.medium.com/twiddler-1b5c9690cce6

That means that your car can track your every movement, and sell your location data to anyone and everyone, from marketers to bounty-hunters looking to collect fees for tracking down people who travel out of state for abortions to cops to foreign spies:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7enex/tool-shows-if-car-selling-data-privacy4cars-vehicle-privacy-report

Digitization supercharges financialization. It lets car-makers offer subprime auto-loans to desperate, poor people and then killswitch their cars if they miss a payment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U2eDJnwz_s

Subprime lending for cars would be a terrible business without computers, but digitization makes it a great source of feudal rents. Car dealers can originate loans to people with teaser rates that quickly blow up into payments the dealer knows their customer can’t afford. Then they repo the car and sell it to another desperate person, and another, and another:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/27/boricua/#looking-for-the-joke-with-a-microscope

Digitization also opens up more exotic options. Some subprime cars have secondary control systems wired into their entertainment system: miss a payment and your car radio flips to full volume and bellows an unstoppable, unmutable stream of threats. Tesla does one better: your car will lock and immobilize itself, then blare its horn and back out of its parking spot when the repo man arrives:

https://tiremeetsroad.com/2021/03/18/tesla-allegedly-remotely-unlocks-model-3-owners-car-uses-smart-summon-to-help-repo-agent/

Digital feudalism hasn’t stopped innovating — it’s just stopped innovating good things. The digital device is an endless source of sadistic novelties, like the cellphones that disable your most-used app the first day you’re late on a payment, then work their way down the other apps you rely on for every day you’re late:

https://restofworld.org/2021/loans-that-hijack-your-phone-are-coming-to-india/

Usurers have always relied on this kind of imaginative intimidation. The loan-shark’s arm-breaker knows you’re never going to get off the hook; his goal is in intimidating you into paying his boss first, liquidating your house and your kid’s college fund and your wedding ring before you default and he throws you off a building.

Thanks to the malleability of computerized systems, digital arm-breakers have an endless array of options they can deploy to motivate you into paying them first, no matter what it costs you:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/02/innovation-unlocks-markets/#digital-arm-breakers

Car-makers are trailblazers in imaginative rent-extraction. Take VIN-locking: this is the practice of adding cheap microchips to engine components that communicate with the car’s overall network. After a new part is installed in your car, your car’s computer does a complex cryptographic handshake with the part that requires an unlock code provided by an authorized technician. If the code isn’t entered, the car refuses to use that part.

VIN-locking has exploded in popularity. It’s in your iPhone, preventing you from using refurb or third-party replacement parts:

https://doctorow.medium.com/apples-cement-overshoes-329856288d13

It’s in fuckin’ ventilators, which was a nightmare during lockdown as hospital techs nursed their precious ventilators along by swapping parts from dead systems into serviceable ones:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/3azv9b/why-repair-techs-are-hacking-ventilators-with-diy-dongles-from-poland

And of course, it’s in tractors, along with other forms of remote killswitch. Remember that feelgood story about John Deere bricking the looted Ukrainian tractors whose snitch-chips showed they’d been relocated to Russia?

https://doctorow.medium.com/about-those-kill-switched-ukrainian-tractors-bc93f471b9c8

That wasn’t a happy story — it was a cautionary tale. After all, John Deere now controls the majority of the world’s agricultural future, and they’ve boobytrapped those ubiquitous tractors with killswitches that can be activated by anyone who hacks, takes over, or suborns Deere or its dealerships.

Control over repair isn’t limited to gouging customers on parts and service. When a company gets to decide whether your device can be fixed, it can fuck you over in all kinds of ways. Back in 2019, Tim Apple told his shareholders to expect lower revenues because people were opting to fix their phones rather than replace them:

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/01/letter-from-tim-cook-to-apple-investors/

By usurping your right to decide who fixes your phone, Apple gets to decide whether you can fix it, or whether you must replace it. Problem solved — and not just for Apple, but for car makers, tractor makers, ventilator makers and more. Apple leads on this, even ahead of Big Car, pioneering a “recycling” program that sees trade-in phones shredded so they can’t possibly be diverted from an e-waste dump and mined for parts:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/yp73jw/apple-recycling-iphones-macbooks

John Deere isn’t sleeping on this. They’ve come up with a valuable treasure they extract when they win the Right-to-Repair: Deere singles out farmers who complain about its policies and refuses to repair their tractors, stranding them with six-figure, two-ton paperweight:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/31/dealers-choice/#be-a-shame-if-something-were-to-happen-to-it

The repair wars are just a skirmish in a vast, invisible fight that’s been waged for decades: the War On General-Purpose Computing, where tech companies use the law to make it illegal for you to reconfigure your devices so they serve you, rather than their shareholders:

https://memex.craphound.com/2012/01/10/lockdown-the-coming-war-on-general-purpose-computing/

The force behind this army is vast and grows larger every day. General purpose computers are antithetical to technofeudalism — all the rents extracted by technofeudalists would go away if others (tinkereres, co-ops, even capitalists!) were allowed to reconfigure our devices so they serve us.

You’ve probably noticed the skirmishes with inkjet printer makers, who can only force you to buy their ink at 20,000% markups if they can stop you from deciding how your printer is configured:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/07/inky-wretches/#epson-salty But we’re also fighting against insulin pump makers, who want to turn people with diabetes into walking inkjet printers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/10/loopers/#hp-ification

And companies that make powered wheelchairs:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/08/chair-ish/#r2r

These companies start with people who have the least agency and social power and wreck their lives, then work their way up the privilege gradient, coming for everyone else. It’s called the “shitty technology adoption curve”:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/21/great-taylors-ghost/#solidarity-or-bust

Technofeudalism is the public-private-partnership from hell, emerging from a combination of state and private action. On the one hand, bailing out bankers and big business (rather than workers) after the 2008 crash and the covid lockdown decoupled income from profits. Companies spent billions more than they earned were still wildly profitable, thanks to those public funds.

But there’s also a policy dimension here. Some of those rentiers’ billions were mobilized to both deconstruct antitrust law (allowing bigger and bigger companies and cartels) and to expand “IP” law, turning “IP” into a toolsuite for controlling the conduct of a firm’s competitors, critics and customers:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

IP is key to understanding the rise of technofeudalism. The same malleability that allows companies to “twiddle” the knobs on their services and keep us on the hook as they reel us in would hypothetically allow us to countertwiddle, seizing the means of computation:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

The thing that stands between you and an alternative app store, an interoperable social media network that you can escape to while continuing to message the friends you left behind, or a car that anyone can fix or unlock features for is IP, not technology. Under capitalism, that technology would already exist, because capitalists have no loyalty to one another and view each other’s margins as their own opportunities.

But under technofeudalism, control comes from rents (owning things), not profits (selling things). The capitalist who wants to participate in your iPhone’s “ecosystem” has to make apps and submit them to Apple, along with 30% of their lifetime revenues — they don’t get to sell you jailbreaking kit that lets you choose their app store.

Rent-seeking technology has a holy grail: control over “ring zero” — the ability to compel you to configure your computer to a feudalist’s specifications, and to verify that you haven’t altered your computer after it came into your possession:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/30/ring-minus-one/#drm-political-economy

For more than two decades, various would-be feudal lords and their court sorcerers have been pitching ways of doing this, of varying degrees of outlandishness.

At core, here’s what they envision: inside your computer, they will nest another computer, one that is designed to run a very simple set of programs, none of which can be altered once it leaves the factory. This computer — either a whole separate chip called a “Trusted Platform Module” or a region of your main processor called a secure enclave — can tally observations about your computer: which operating system, modules and programs it’s running.

Then it can cryptographically “sign” these observations, proving that they were made by a secure chip and not by something you could have modified. Then you can send this signed “attestation” to someone else, who can use it to determine how your computer is configured and thus whether to trust it. This is called “remote attestation.”

There are some cool things you can do with remote attestation: for example, two strangers playing a networked video game together can use attestations to make sure neither is running any cheat modules. Or you could require your cloud computing provider to use attestations that they aren’t stealing your data from the server you’re renting. Or if you suspect that your computer has been infected with malware, you can connect to someone else and send them an attestation that they can use to figure out whether you should trust it.

Today, there’s a cool remote attestation technology called “PrivacyPass” that replaces CAPTCHAs by having you prove to your own device that you are a human. When a server wants to make sure you’re a person, it sends a random number to your device, which signs that number along with its promise that it is acting on behalf of a human being, and sends it back. CAPTCHAs are all kinds of bad — bad for accessibility and privacy — and this is really great.

But the billions that have been thrown at remote attestation over the decades is only incidentally about solving CAPTCHAs or verifying your cloud server. The holy grail here is being able to make sure that you’re not running an ad-blocker. It’s being able to remotely verify that you haven’t disabled the bossware your employer requires. It’s the power to block someone from opening an Office365 doc with LibreOffice. It’s your boss’s ability to ensure that you haven’t modified your messaging client to disable disappearing messages before he sends you an auto-destructing memo ordering you to break the law.

And there’s a new remote attestation technology making the rounds: Google’s Web Environment Integrity, which will leverage Google’s dominance over browsers to allow websites to block users who run ad-blockers:

https://github.com/RupertBenWiser/Web-Environment-Integrity

There’s plenty else WEI can do (it would make detecting ad-fraud much easier), but for every legitimate use, there are a hundred ways this could be abused. It’s a technology purpose-built to allow rent extraction by stripping us of our right to technological self-determination.

Releasing a technology like this into a world where companies are willing to make their products less reliable, less attractive, less safe and less resilient in pursuit of rents is incredibly reckless and shortsighted. You want unauthorized bread? This is how you get Unauthorized Bread:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/amp/

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

[Image ID: The interior of a luxury car. There is a dagger protruding from the steering wheel. The entertainment console has been replaced by the text 'You wouldn't download a car,' in MPAA scare-ad font. Outside of the windscreen looms the Matrix waterfall effect. Visible in the rear- and side-view mirror is the driver: the figure from Munch's 'Scream.' The screen behind the steering-wheel has been replaced by the menacing red eye of HAL9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.']

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

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